The episode opens with Monica (Courteney Cox), Phoebe (Lisa Kudrow), Chandler (Matthew Perry) and Joey (Matt LeBlanc) in Central Perk, the local coffee house, talking about Chandler's strange dream and Monica's upcoming date. The jokes are fast paced one-liners; and honestly some just aren't as funny as the studio audience would make you believe. However, these four characters do mesh well.
In comes Ross (David Schwimmer), who is just a mess because his wife has left him when she told him she was a lesbian and was moving in with her partner. The group comforts Ross, who just wants to be married again. Enter Rachel (Jennifer Anniston), who runs into Central Perk in a wedding gown (could it be fate?). She was Monica's friend in high school and the only person she knew in the city who was not invited to the wedding. She tells the group that she ran away from her wedding and she had no where else to go.
The group moves to Monica's apartment and watch a Spanish telenovela as Rachel tells her father that she wasn't in love with her fiance and tells him that she will move in with Monica (to Monica's surprise!). Paul the Wine Guy, Monica's date arrives.
Chandler and Joey help Ross put together furniture in his new apartment, and Rachel watches tv at Monica's apartment. Monica and Paul have a great time on their date, Chandler and Joey try to cheer up Ross by telling him to start dating again, and Rachel just looks lost as she stares out the window, in a sappy little montage.
The next morning, Rachel is making (horrible) coffee for Chandler and Joey in Monica's apartment with a new lease on life. Paul leaves after spending the night with Monica, and the four of them leave to go to their jobs (Rachel at least looking for one). Monica finds out that Paul used a line on her to get her to sleep with him. When the rest of the group finds out at the Central Perk, they can't believe she fell for a stupid line. Rachel comes storming in happy and with a new pair of boots, even though she failed 12 job interviews. The rest of the group tell her that she needs to be independent and not rely on her parents for money and they get her to cut up her father's credit cards.
Later that night, Monica, Rachel and Ross are watching television at Monica's (and Rachel's) apartment. Monica goes to sleep, leaving Ross and Rachel alone. Ross tells her that he had a huge crush on her in high school. Rachel says that she knew and agrees to go out with him. At the end, Rachel gets a job at the Central Perk.
There was not anything special about this pilot to make it seem like this show would become the show that it did. There were some problems, mainly that there wasn't enough for each character to do, particularly Phoebe. A half hour show makes it hard to give enough attention to six main characters. However this was a good pilot in terms of introducing the show to the audience. Rachel served as the audience as she was introduced to everyone, and each character has their own part of the group:
- Monica is the mother and care giver of the group
- Ross is the sad, neurotic one
- Phoebe is the strange, "out there" one
- Joey is the dumb, womanizer
- Chandler is the wise-cracking one
- Rachel is the "daddy's little girl" one
235 more episodes to go. I hope Ross and Rachel can make it.
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